Huawei unveils industry’s first 7nm chipset- Kirin 980 in India

Huawei Consumer Business Group India today unveiled the Kirin 980, a technological marvel that will bring superlative performance, the best smartphone photography & videography experience, the most advanced mobile AI experience and outstanding connectivity anytime, anywhere to consumers. The new chipset is the world’s first commercial SoC manufactured with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturer Company’s (TSMC) 7nm process and delivers the best-in-class performance, efficiency, connectivity features, and Dual NPU AI processing power.

The chipset is set for commercial availability on Huawei devices for consumers before 2018 ends. Compared to the previous generation 10nm process, the 7nm process packs 6.9 billion transistors in the same form factor as its predecessor, while delivering 20% improved performance and 40% more efficiency.

The launch of the Kirin 980 represents another step towards an era of truly intelligent smartphones. While the Kirin 970 was the first SoC that came with a dedicated AI processor, the Kirin 980 is the industry’s first mobile SoC to be equipped with two neural processing units (NPUs). The Dual-NPU setup affords greater AI processing power, which allows developers to create even richer AI experiences without having to lean on the cloud.

Huawei’s Kirin 980 launched in India

Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Brody Ji, Senior Product Director, Huawei Consumer Business Group, said, “At Huawei, we want to create an elite mobile ecosystem and offer products that not only offer distinctive user experience but also enhance the way consumer connects with each other. Being a pioneer in AI with last year, we are thrilled to launch the Kirin 980 equipped with the industry’s first dual NPU, one of industry’s first. The Kirin 980 has been designed as an all-round powerhouse that not only features outstanding AI capabilities, but also brings cutting-edge raw performance to consumers.”

He further added, “By developing the core technologies of chips and the cloud, Huawei is focused on delivering the user experiences that defines the future of smartphone in the smart era.”

Innovations to empower consumers

Smartphone is the symbol of modern lifestyle and consumers across the world including India demand for a fluid, responsive experience. In response to the demand, Huawei integrated the Cortex-A76 and Mali-G76—two new introductions that were never before seen in other SoCs—into the Kirin 980. The new A76 cores feature vastly improved performance and efficiency, up by 75 percent and 58 percent respectively. Huawei also developed new Kirin CPU subsystem based on the multi-core architecture to further enhance the SoC’s performance and efficiency. Focused on providing an ultimate performance, the Mali-G76 embedded within Kirin 980 delivers 46 per cent more graphics processing power and 178 percent better power efficiency as compared to previous generations.

Powering a new era of AI

The launch of Kirin 980 represents another breakthrough in technology innovation. With Dual-NPU, the Kirin 980 elevates the On-Device AI experience with greater processing power and intelligence.

Leveraging the powerful Dual-NPU On-Device AI processing capability, Kirin 980 provides an even more exquisite, real-time user experience in areas such as facial recognition, object recognition, object detection, image segmentation, AI translation, and more. Kirin 980 can recognize up to 4,500 images per minute, which is a 120% increase from its predecessor and greater than the industry average. Kirin 980 also supports multi-person motion prediction, which accurately reads the motion of human subjects at up 30fps and can rig their 3D model in real time.

Kirin 980 also features an innovative AI clock boosting technology which can intelligently identify the performance bottlenecks by reading the frame rate, frame time, user input and processor workload, and adjust accordingly in real time. The technology works particularly well with games, compared with the traditional way of prediction, it works 30 per cent better than conventional solutions in predicting the resource utilization of games.

Exceptional Connectivity Anytime, Anywhere

Kirin 980 is the world’s first SoC to sport a modem that supports LTE Category 21 (which supports a downlink of 1.4Gbps). Additionally, the Kirin 980 supports carrier aggregation, even across frequency bands, so users are free to choose their mobile operators and still enjoy the same premium connectivity experience.

Moreover, the Kirin 980 is equipped with the Hi1103 Wi-Fi module, which is the world’s fastest Wi-Fi chipset as well as the world’s first to support a maximum download speed of 1.7GBPS. To provide the best GPS experience, it supports the industry-leading dual-frequency (L1 and L5) GPS for ultra-precise positioning, providing 10 times greater accuracy, allowing the device to deliver superior location services. This solution works across all scenarios, from urban homes to highways to the countryside.